Timothy MITCHISON

I am a fundamental cell biologist with interests in biological physics, chemical biology, and drug discovery. I trained as a biochemist at Oxford, then as a Cell Biologist at UCSF. I established my own laboratory at UCSF in 1987 and have been pursuing NIGMS-supported research in basic cell biology since then, with a focus on the cytoskeleton and cell division. In 1997, I moved to HMS to co-found the Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology with a chemist, Stuart Schreiber, where we established a collaborative small molecule screening platform and developed tools for research. This experience greatly increased my expertise in chemical biology. In 2004, I co-founded the Dept. of Systems Biology with Marc Kirschner, whose goal is to further the application of quantitative approaches in basic biology and medicine. This experience increased my expertise in physics and mathematical modeling. In 2015, I co-founded a small biotechnology company, Ribon Therapeutics. This increased my experience in team-based science and modern drug discovery methods. Current research interests in my group include the physical organization of cytoplasm during cell division, the pharmacology of drugs that target microtubules, and drug discovery of novel targets in cell division.